Movement, Power & Artistic Freedom

Abstract bonsai art. I think there’s a temptation to judge trees with elaborately carved deadwood. But maybe it’s best to just appreciate the skill involved and not worry about too much deadwood or whether the result look like our sense of what’s natural or not. Not to downplay the importance of bonsai the look like trees in nature, rather to appreciate the vast variety of approaches and results in our wonderful world of bonsai Yesterday we featured Cheng, Cheng-Kung’s colorful side. Today we’ll touch upon his famous Sidao carving method and some results. Hopefully this will peak your interest. If … Continue reading Movement, Power & Artistic Freedom

The Monk, Bonsai Before & After

Before and after by Salvador De Loy Reyes. He calls it The Monk, but gives no other information, including no species (looks a lot like a Shimpaku juniper) or details of any kind, though you might guess it was originally field grown and purposely twisted to look like an old Japanese yamadori (bonsai collected from the wild). Without seeing the other side of the tree, it’s almost impossible to follow the live veins in their delightfully chaotic movement up the trunk Yesterday’s post featured three trees that were ready to be reviewed and retouched by Salvador De Los Reyes. Today it’s a before … Continue reading The Monk, Bonsai Before & After

“JeJeJe” – One Very Impressive Olive & Two Others that Can Use Some Reviewing & Retouching

This impressive old Olive must have taken a long time to carve. Assuming that most of the deadwood was carved by human hands (with some power tools’ help of course). Either way, it’s masterpiece (though there’s still the sacrifice shoots on the lowest branch, which will look a lot better when their work is done and they are removed). Speaking of the lowest branch, here’s Salvador De Los Reyes’ caption with this tree… “Vamos a dar mas fuerza a esa rama de abajo,” and here’s my translation… “We are going to strengthen the lower branch.” The photos of the three Olives and the Spanish text in this … Continue reading “JeJeJe” – One Very Impressive Olive & Two Others that Can Use Some Reviewing & Retouching

Trident Maple Bonsai in a Well Chosen Pot

Sweet! I thought you might like to see this. It’s Carl Morrow’s Trident maple in a very well chosen and appropriately sized pot (Carl sent photos in an email, so no links) Last week we featured a Robert Steven critique of a Trident maple that belongs to Carl Morrow (Size Matters & Small Is Beautiful). It was a repost of a one we originally did in September, 2010. Carl took Robert’s advice and repotted the tree into a smaller pot, though not the same pot Robert used in his simulation (it’s hard to find simulated pots!). As it turns out, I think … Continue reading Trident Maple Bonsai in a Well Chosen Pot

Hanging off a Cliff Somewhere in the Alps

This very distinctive bonsai belongs to Mauro Stemberger. The rock was made by Erik Križovenský, a master of unique pots and other creative vessels for planting bonsai. No mention is made of the type tree, but it looks like some type of Juniper. I cropped Mauro’s original photo (below) to get a closer look and to eliminate some background noise It’s past due time to revisit Mauro Stemberger, an old favorite here on Bark. If you’d like to see more of what Mauro is up to you can visit him on facebook and on his Italian Bonsai Dream website. You can also visit … Continue reading Hanging off a Cliff Somewhere in the Alps

A Most Unusual & Provocative Bonsai Extravaganza

I don’t know how big this planting is, though I’m leaning toward pretty big. Impressive too with its sophisticated sense of depth (larger trees in front and smaller toward the back). Not to overlook the very large pot with its flowing lines and no doubt hefty price tag. This photo and the next three below are from Bill Valavanis’ blog Continuing with yesterday’s mixed media bonsai theme, this one is from Robert Steven’s 2014 1st International Bonsai Biennale. At the time we referred to it as the most unusual and provocative bonsai extravaganza ever TWO NEW TOOL SPECIALS Famous Roshi BONSAI Tools 30% … Continue reading A Most Unusual & Provocative Bonsai Extravaganza

25% – 75% off Bonsai Items Special Ends Tonight

SUMMER SPECIAL ENDS TONIGHT Hundreds of BONSAI & GARDEN Items 25% to 75% off List Prices – this amounts to about half of our total inventory Stonelantern.com SPECIAL ENDS at 11:59pm EDT Tonight, Monday, July 23rd Bonsai Tools Bonsai Wire Bonsai Books Fertilizers High Impact Plastic Bonsai Pots Bonsai Soil and much more 25% TO 75% OFF LIST PRICES STONELANTERN.COM SPECIAL ENDS at 11:59pm EDT Tonight, Monday, July 23rd FREE Shipping on Continental U.S. orders 75.00 or more but only if you choose free shipping when you check out StoneLantern.com

Bonsai Art & Ink Painting – A Perfect Intersection

Something new under the sun! Sumi artist Sonia Stella’s caption reads… “Bonsai by Sandro Segneri and modern ink by me” I’m always a little stoked when we discover a new bonsai artist (quoted from our July 14th post). Now we can double down on that with today’s discovery of Sonia Stella’s Bonsai Art & Ink Painting – Sakura Studio. Or maybe triple down, with the added excitement of discovering a perfect intersection of two arts performed at such a high level. MID SUMMER SPECIAL ENDS TONIGHT 25% TO 75% OFF LIST PRICE ON HUNDREDS OF BONSAI ITEMS SPECIAL ENDS TONIGHT, MONDAY AT 11:59PM EDT – … Continue reading Bonsai Art & Ink Painting – A Perfect Intersection

Superior Bonsai Deserve a Superior Turntable

Everything looks good on a Green T turntable and this luscious azalea in full flower is no exception (it will look even better on with the new green rims – see below). Here’s part of the caption that the folks at Green T wrote with this photo… “@bonsaiwarsaw loves azaleas! This variety of bonsai require lots of special care and dedication and we are glad that such a young innovative bonsai artist is trusting Green T to do his best!” I cropped the original photo to feature just the tree. The uncropped version is below. Just in case you missed … Continue reading Superior Bonsai Deserve a Superior Turntable

Bonsai at the Intersection of Environmental Art, Durational Art, Performance, Architecture, and Design

There’s more than the tree to bonsai. This photo with the brilliantly conceived pot and stand – and the way they both emphasize and elevate (literally) the tree – perfectly illustrates this point. It’s from a special event flyer posted by Pacific Bonsai Museum titled LAB, Living Art of Bonsai. The date is August 4th. The rest of the details are here This event looks and sounds so compelling that if it weren’t for previous unbreakable commitments, I’d be making my reservations right now. But perhaps you can be lucky! Here’s part of the copy from the Pacific Bonsai Museum about the upcoming LAB… “In … Continue reading Bonsai at the Intersection of Environmental Art, Durational Art, Performance, Architecture, and Design